TalkBack for Nov. 3

Aiken High band

In "Rants and Raves," the Mr. Westbury of the Aiken High Band is Ryan Westberry. No matter how you spell his surname, we still enjoyed the band!

Thanks Gatewood

I just want to thank all the good people in Gatewood for opening your neighborhood to those in Aiken who don't live in areas good for trick-or-treating. It was like a scene out of a movie with all the kids and parents being able to walk, run and laugh safely from one wonderfully decorated home to another. The homeowners in Gatewood literally possess the true 'spirit' of Halloween!

Bullying

To the parents of the child who was bullied and the parents of the bully: Physical violence usually starts with verbal abuse. Neither is acceptable. As an adult, if someone physically attacked me, I would call the police. As a child, I was attacked by a bully, and I wondered why this was allowed to happen and why there were no consequences for the bully. Our children should have the same protections under the laws as do adults. With children, a reasonable place to start is with the parents and the school. If those remedies don't work, we owe it to our children to involve the police.

Good Samaritans

I hit a deer Oct. 31 on Highway 78 near Fire Tower Road around 7 p.m. I just wanted to sincerely thank the couple and the gentleman that stopped to help and make sure that my family including myself, my husband, and two of my children, were all right, help get my car out of the road, and make sure the deer was not suffering. And to everyone else who just rode by for two and a half hours thereafter, what has happened to people these days? To see a family beside a wrecked car in the dark in the middle of nowhere, just to drive right on by? Thank you for your concern!

Call our TalkBack hotline at (803) 644-2384 and leave your message, or e-mail it to us at editorial@aikenstandard.com. Readers' names are not necessary to make a comment and will not be published in the newspaper. Comments should be brief and to the point, and the Aiken Standard reserves the right to edit for space and content.